Wilderness News Releases

The Campaign for America’s Wilderness today welcomed the reintroduction of a Senate proposal to grant wilderness protection to more than 128,000 acres on Oregon’s Mount Hood and in the Columbia River Gorge. The Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act of 2007, sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D) and Gordon Smith (R), would also designate about 80 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers.

The 109th Congress early this morning passed its sixth bill to protect wild public lands under the National Wilderness Preservation System. The White Pine County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2006, designating more than a half million acres of new wilderness, was included in omnibus tax legislation that cleared the House and Senate in the final hours of the 109th Congress, and heads next to the President’s desk for his signature.

The Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests met today to hear testimony on the White Pine County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2006 (S. 3772). The bill, introduced by Nevada Senators Reid (D) and Ensign (R), would designate 545,000 acres of wilderness in the eastern part of Nevada.

Mike Matz, Executive Director of the Campaign for America’s Wilderness commented on the hearing:

Picking up where they left off before the midterm elections, the 109th Congress (now “lame duck”) today passed its second wilderness bill of 2006, the New England Wilderness Act, S. 4001. The bipartisan legislation now awaits President Bush’s signature.

Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign for America’s Wilderness, praised the broad-based community effort that led to enactment of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act (H.R. 233/S. 128), which President Bush signed into law today. The conservation measure designates more than 273,000 acres in California’s North Coast as wilderness and grants wild and scenic status to 21 river miles.